"Have a Great Shabbat"

Each generation has its own favorite expressions. One example of our own time is the popular pre-Shabbat wish to "have a great Shabbat".

Every Shabbat should hopefully be great for every Jew but only one Shabbat a year is actually called Shabbat Hagadol – The Great Shabbat.

This is the Shabbat before Pesach that deserves that title because of the great miracle that took place on the pre-Exodus Shabbat when our ancestors took animals worshipped as idols by the Egyptians and offered them as sacrifices to G-d with no opposition from their oppressors.

It is a source of pain to all Shabbat observers to witness the lax attitude of so many Jews in Israel in regard to the sanctity of Shabbat. Perhaps the identification we have with the "Great Shabbat" of history will inspire all Jews to make every Shabbat a great one which will, as promised by G-d, protect Israel forever.

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